Public Turbulence / Disordine in pubblico Art

Special project by artists and curators of the Master’s Degree in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies at NABA Milan: Valentina Angeleri, Paolo Caffoni, Arianna Carcano (with Igor Muroni), Michele D’Aurizio, Anita Gazzani (with Luca Puglia), Matteo Lucchetti (with the Milan complaints choir), Valentina Maggi (with Sofia Scarano), Giulia Paciello, Mila Popdimitrova, Beto Shwafaty, Lorenzo Tamai.

In the context of a finally sequestered construction site and ecologically un-sustainable urban projects, the people, artists and activists of the Isola neighborhood carry on their struggle against authoritarian projects and dangerous creative gentrification processes. They propose a critical perspective and an inappropriate use of urban spaces through the activities of Isola Art Center, a center for art and community life under permanent construction. From May 22nd to May 25th (and up to August 31st), an array of artistic interventions, meeting and performances will take place, conceived both for visibility and for harboring critical discussions, based on the conviction that public discourse shouldn’t leave its spectators silently, powerlessly facing everyday decisions.

A beggar robot roams the Isola, stopping to talk and panhandle, while a train mysteriously deviates from its track to appear between the buildings. A neighborhood street becomes a guide for an unconventional use of city spaces: bookshops become libraries, shops become places where you’re free not to buy anything; it offers examples of protests and defences against the privatization of public spaces, which could very well include a choir singing its complaints or a bench to be carried around to sit down and listen to a Club’s band ultimately identified as a simple inn. A logic of common disorder, a slight shift in usual meanings and social conventions.

Isola Art Center is a laboratory and open platform combining the activities and desires of the people of the Isola neighborhood with contemporary artistic research. Evicted in 2007 from the Stecca degli Artigiani, it is the result of a decade-long struggle, engaged by dwellers, artists, researchers and activists in defense of their neighborhood. A set of people sharing the assumption that the destruction of public spaces and their conversion into areas of consumption or real estate speculation can be stopped or limited, also by the use of unconventional tactics.

Today Isola Art Center is hosted by Soundmetak, Piazzale Segrino 1,Tantrika Shop, Via Pollaiuolo 2, Puerto de Libros, Via Pollaiuolo 5, Osterialnove, Via Thaon de Revel 9, Punto Rosso, Via Pepe 14, by the streets and squares in Isola and by Naba, via Darwin 20.

Public Turbulence/Disordine in pubblico Art, events and meetings in the Isola neighborhood, Milan

curated by Alberto Pesavento e Bert Theis

Agenzia X, Stefano Boccalini, Park Fiction, Stina Fisch, Gaia Fugazza, Angelo Sarleti, Christoph Schäfer, Sa‰o Sedlaãek, HR Stamenov, Urbonas, Fani Zguro, Isola Art’s Club Band and many more.

22, 23, 24, 25 May – 31 August 2009 Opening: Friday 22 May, 18h – 24h Saturday 12h – 20h Sunday 16h – 24h Monday 25 May, 18.30h

Public Turbulence/Disordine in pubblico Art
Events and meetings in the Isola neighborhood, Milan
Kuratoren: Alberto Pesavento, Bert Theis

Künstler&Kuratoren: Agenzia X , Stefano Boccalini, Park Fiction , Stina Fisch, Gaia Fugazza, Angelo Sarleti, Christoph Schäfer, Saso Sedlacek, HR Stamenov, Urbonas , Fani Zguro, Isola Art’s Club Band , Valentina Angeleri, Paolo Caffoni, Arianna Carcano, Igor Muroni, Michele D´Aurizio, Anita Gazzani, Luca Puglia, Matteo Lucchetti, Milan complaints choir , Valentina Maggi, Sofia Scarano, Giulia Paciello,
Mila Popdimitrova, Beto Shwafaty, Lorenzo Tamai...